The Downside to Being One of the Bad Guys (Ch.6/6) (John/All) (X2)

The conclusion. I really hope you enjoyed reading this. Thanks for your time. Chapter 6 Natalya walked quickly down a hall. She’d been briefed; there was

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The conclusion. I really hope you enjoyed reading
this. Thanks for your time.

Chapter 6

Natalya walked quickly down a hall. She�d been
briefed; there was an elevator downstairs around here.
It was disguised as part of the wall. Maybe she
shouldn�t have gotten rid of Jubilee so fast. Mulling
over the thought of spending more time with that
yammering teeny-bopper Glide was affirmed she�d make
the right decision. Coming across a wood paneling
square that didn�t quite match she tapped it. It slid
away to reveal the elevator.

Glide wondered around through the white sterile
hallways looking for Pyro. She heard the clunk of
boots on metal and ducked around a corner. A brown
haired man with a visor walked but militarily. She
knew him as Cyclops from her briefing session by
Magneto. He was the leader, shot optic blasts from
his eyes. She stayed pressed against the wall and
held her breath. She was not going to actively make
this any harder by getting caught and having to fight
her way out.

Cautiously peeking out she watched the man continue
down the hall towards the elevator. He glanced into
one of the rooms and waved. �Hi Hank� then he
continued on. Natalya smiled broadly. Hank equaled
Dr. Henry McCoy. Dr. McCoy was the doctor, John was
hurt, made sense that her friend was with �Hank�.

�Johnny!� John looked up at the sound of the voice.
It had sounded like Natalya. He was pleasantly
surprised to find the slim blonde leaning on the
doorframe.

�Talya?�

The woman smiled at him, �Good to see you alive and�
sort of well�. Hank approached but felt a force
firmly holding every muscle in place. He couldn�t
move at all. The mystery woman�s hand was held up in
his direction. It appeared she was telekinetic.

�Pig tails?� John asked.

�I�m almost 24, have a doctorate, and trying to pull
off newbie mutant. Give me a little credit; they let
me in after all.� She explained untying her hair and
giving it a shake.

�I suppose short and thin pays off sometimes�

�The upside of childhood malnutrition�

�You got a plan besides making small talk and holding
the Doc in one place?�

She set her backpack down, pulled out a pile of
clothes and handed them to John. �Rooted through your
room, I think they�re clean�

�Thanks� he said

�You know the fastest way out of here?� She asked
while putting an arm around his waist and helping
support him as he put his weight on the floor.

�I did live here� John stepped into the pants and
closed them with a button and zip.

�Then I propose we put you in charge of the rest of
this mission.�

�What about him?� John asked as his head popped out
of the top of the T-shirt. The Beast had begun
struggling ineffectually. He couldn�t just let John
walk out.

�We�ll leave him in here.� He glanced around the
infirmary and spotted the intercom.

�Get the intercom� he pointed to the device on the
wall near the door. Letting Pyro lean on the bed
instead of her she held the one hand steady and
flicked the other in a circle. The panel flew off the
wall into her hand, leaving bare wires in the wall.
He was already breathing a little heavy, it was a
little soon for him to making a jail break. But, he
had to take advantage. Xavier wasn�t the utter
goody-goody that he�d thought. He couldn�t think that
after what the man had tried. Pyro moved to pull out
the IV lines but Glide stopped him.

�He put them in for a reason Johnny.� She glanced at
the pole the bags hung from. It was on wheels. �It�s
on wheels, just bring it with us�

He rolled his eyes, �Yes Mommy�. Leaning on the pole
more than he would have liked, he hated looking weak,
he and Glide left.

Beast still couldn�t move. It was frustrating. He
couldn�t move, but he heard the lighter open and shut
then saw the weak orange glow around the door as Pyro
melted the hinges solid, effectively sealing him
inside the infirmary. Magneto must have taught him
how to focus, to make the fire more intense, hot
enough to melt metal. Then Beast regained control of
his body in a rush. They were walking away so the
girl had released her hold. Hank marveled just a
little over the display of power. She seemed to focus
almost no energy towards him, but had him completely
immobilized. She was dangerous. �Charles� he
mentally projected, �I require some assistance in the
infirmary. Pyro has escaped with a young lady named
Natalya and welded me in here.�

�I�ll send Wolverine� came the mental response.

�Natalya� groaned the professor. The girl they had
just let into the school was Natalya. He scanned the
compound for Jubilee and found her mind quiet. That
clearly meant she was unconscious somewhere. He
cursed himself for yet again underestimating Erik and
his followers. They�d been infiltrated again. How
could he have let that happened? He hadn�t pressed to
read her. Her shields had been strong; he should have
suspected they weren�t natural. Berating himself
wasn�t going to resolve the situation; it would have
to wait until later.

Pyro grabbed Glide�s arm to stop her at the next
intersection. �You have a car or something?�

�The Corsica is outside the gate�

�It still runs?�

�Morty is a genius�

�Alright, we just make this right, it connects to the
garage and it�s a short sprint off the grounds.�

�Except you can�t sprint�

�I�ll make it� he assured her. Natalya glanced at her
watch.

�Damn�

�What?�

�You�re on the A team again.�

�And the B team?�

�Needs about 20 more minutes�

�Alright then� John turned left. Natalya pulled on
her coat and followed.

�Cold?� John asked.

�I assume Rogue is still around, and that means less
skin�

�But I like skin� Glide rolled her eyes at him.

�Sure you do little boy.� She picked up the IV bag,
then the other, both were empty. �Want me to take
this out, it�s empty now.�

�Yeah� he held out his arm. �It�ll just get in the
way in the fight.� She took out the lines. They were
ready to see this out.

�Which way to the fight?�

They were back in the mansion. John
looked around, any moment they�d be pounced upon.
�Ready?� he asked his friend. She said nothing but
nodded. Then the enemy appeared. Cyclops led the
approaching group. Storm hovered above them, with
Rogue and Iceman striding confidently behind Cyclops.
They were on their home turf; they knew the objective
and were sure it could be achieved.

�Give it up Pyro�

�Yeah right� He flicked his lighter and a
fireball bloomed in his hand before flying towards the
X-men. Xavier�s men (and women) scattered and moved
to surround the Brotherhood members. Glide threw her
hands out and all 4 stumbled backwards a few steps.
Both she and Pyro wore cold glares.

Despite being heavily outmatched the
Brotherhood members put up a valiant fight. A part of
Cyclops outside of the situation was disappointed his
team was struggling against just two Brotherhood
members. They were the two youngest Brotherhood
members too. Well, maybe there were younger members,
but that would be awful. When John had gone he was
too young to be a terrorist. It was hard to imagine
Magneto taking them any younger. A chair cracked
Scott in the back of his head. Damn girl

Fire burned in the hall, all ammunition
for Pyro. Bobby stepped closer to the other boy; it
was Iceman vs. Pyro, again. A ball of fire lobbed at
him became ice and shattered into a shower of crystals
when it hit the wall behind him. More fire emerged
from the lighter and flew towards Bobby. Bobby tried
to ice it and steam was the result. Iceman could feel
the heat of fire that slipped past his defenses and
whizzed by his head by only a few inches. The wall
was scorched where it hit. Bobby charged forward and
tried to tackle his former friend. But, Bobby felt
himself hit an invisible wall and bounced back.

Both Pyro and Glide looked like conductors
as they moved their arms and hands to manipulate their
powers. Iceman�s ice blast shattered the skylight.
Glide jumped and hung in the air to avoid a lightening
bolt directed at her feet. She dropped back down and
flicked her wrists, turning her whole body with the
movement, to point at Storm. The white haired woman
flipped backwards, somersaulting. Rogue slipped up
behind Pyro and grabbed his arm. But, she was unable
to get find skin before he shook her off. Storm�s
eyes went white as she recovered. Storm called for
more wind in her storm. Glide pulled her arm back for
another attack.

�Glide� Pyro warned. Glide had been trained at
Avendale to use her powers at an intensity level more
than she could take. It was a dangerous habit because
she could collapse from exhaustion and be useless.
Looking at his friend Pyro could see she was draining
her reserves fast. Luckily, she was very good at
taking orders. Natalya pulled back. Storm blew her
back with a directed gust of wind. The smaller woman
stumbled back and hit the wall. Fire flew as a snake
and twisted around Storm. She hissed and brought the
rain down to put herself out.

Pyro built up a wall of flame around them. �How
long?�

Glide twisted her left wrist around, sending Bobby
about 2 feet in the air and dropping him. It allowed
her to look at her watch. �We�re cool.� As the words
left her lips an optic blast disrupted the fire and
slammed her into Pyro, sending them both to the
ground.

�We�re cool?� Pyro whispered.

�Mission completed, everyone should be
back at the base.�

�Then I�m just going to lay here.�

�Good, me too�

Cyclops held up a hand. �Enough� Pyro and
Glide were both lying on the floor, not moving too
much. The X-men surrounded the Brotherhood.

�Are they OK?� Rogue asked

�Yes� said Pyro from the floor. He rolled
onto his feet and Glide joined him.

�Hands up� ordered Cyclops. Both of
Magneto�s minions complied, shoulder level, palms
forward. �Cross them in front of you.� Again, they
obeyed. Then he nodded at Bobby who iced them
together, immobilizing them. They didn�t want any
sudden outburst from their mutant powers. �We�re
going to the professor�s office. I know you know the
way John.� Pyro glared over his shoulder but trudged
forward.

Xavier was in his office waiting for the
new prisoners. He sat behind his grand desk and the
enemy was led in and sat before him.

�Are you going to break into my mind
again?� Pyro sneered.

�No Mr. Pyro, your mind is your own. I
will simply ask what Erik is planning.� Bobby
couldn�t believe what the professor had admitted. He
had broken in and read John�s mind. It was completely
against the ethics he taught to the telepathic
students. You never invaded someone�s mind without
permission. A mind is a personal and private thing.
It was hard to believe the professor had done
something like that; he was such a good man.

Suddenly striding into the office Beast flipped on the
TV. �There�s something on the TV I believe you should
see.�

�The Inapole labs have been completely destroyed in
what is being called a professionally planned
terrorist attack. The 3 labs that made up the company
were devastated. The homes of major executives were
also ransacked. Inside sources say all research on
Inapole�s top projects has been destroyed. No one was
hurt in the incident but Inapole is seeking 2 million
dollars in damages for the complete loss of findings
and prototypes.�

Glide and Pyro were smiling widely. �You knew about
this?�

�Yeah, they tend to let you know about
plans you are a part of.�

�Why? Why destroy that lab?�

�Power repression collars, they were on
the verge of completing a collar that neutralized
mutant powers. Our sources confirmed these collars
were going to be used to control the mutant population
after the next major mutant incident.� Pyro explained.

�You cause those �mutant incidents� you
know� Storm pointed out

�Sometimes it�s not us. There are an
awful lot of Strykers out there, not to mention any
anti-mutant nut ball who decided to stage an incident
to get us all collared.�

�You just destroy; you people don�t care
about making things better.�

�Sure we do, we just want them better for
people like us, mutants.� Then, Pyro started
coughing. Beast approached quickly.

�Your lungs are still weak Mr. Allerdyce.�

Pyro leaned in close to Glide, covered by the
coughing fit. In a whisper he ordered �I want a
hostage.� She looked at her wrists and the ice on her
wrists shattered. A wide sweeping movement followed
and Rogue felt herself being yanked towards them,
completely unable to resist. She hit Glide and was
pushed into Pyro�s arms. She felt fire dangerously
close to her skin. She could also feel John�s breath
on her neck. He was struggling much more than he let
on, his breath was ragged and she could feel him
trembling ever so slightly. The coughing hadn�t been
entirely fake.

�We�re leaving now professor, you try and
stop us and something serious will happen.�

Xavier looked at the scene before him. His X-men,
four of his best, on their feet ready to rain down on
shaking, coughing kid and his pale, sweating companion
in order to rescue one of their own and protect their
home. The Brotherhood members had no chance; they
were visibly weakening by the minute. Rogue looked
petrified though. It was time to end this.

�Stop� he ordered. Everyone did, though
Pyro�s grip on Marie tightened. �Let them go.
Release Marie and we�ll let you go back to Erik.�
Pyro tilted his head a little.

�We�ll leave her by the car.�

�No, here, now� commanded Cyclops.

�We let her go here; you pick us up again
before we�re out of the mansion. We do this our way.�

�Scott, just go with their demands. They
are weak, and desperate. They won�t risk renewing the
fight.� came Xavier�s voice in the leader�s head.

�Fine, go� Still holding the fire close to
Rogue the group slowly backed out of the office.

�Are you going to hurt me John?� Marie
asked once the door to Xavier�s office closed and the
three were alone in the hall.

�No� he sighed releasing her. Glide moved
herself under his other arm. She sagged a bit under
the added weight but they pressed forward, leaving
Rogue alone in the hallway.

�I could stop you, you know�

�You won�t� Pyro called back.

�Why not?�

�You don�t think I�m a bad guy.� Rogue
watched the Brotherhood members limp away. She just
watched them make their way out of sight before going
back to rejoin the X-men.